LISTEN to this show online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
NEWT GINGRICH was in Los Angeles this week, meeting Latino supporters in South El Monte and Tea Party members in Pasadena – SEAN WILENTZ will comment on Newt’s history – why so many Republicans hate him.  Meanwhile Rick Santorum tops Romney in the national Republican polls.
Sean is the author of The Age of Reagan and many other books – he teaches history at Princeton.

Also: “CHIMES OF FREEDOM: The Songs of Bob Dylan”: Dylan songs sung by a stellar and diverse group of artists across the generational and musical spectrum: from rock, rap, hip-hop to pop, folk, country, jazz and blues. Patti Smith, Tom Morello, Pete Townshend, Diana Krall, Johnny Cash, Elvis Costello, Eric Burdon, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson…. with liner notes by Sean Wilentz.
We are featuring the 4-CD set as a thank-you gift in the KPFK winter fund drive for a pledge of $125.00.  Please call and pledge during the show: 818-985-5735.

TOM FRANK – “the sharpest, funniest political commentator on the scene,” says Barbara Ehrenreich – has a new book out: Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right.  It’s “a brilliant exposé of the most breath-taking ruse in American political history: how the right turned the biggest capitalist breakdown since 1929 into an opportunity for themselves.”

We’ll also be talking with Tom Frank also about the feature-length documentary “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, based on his book with the same title.  Kansas was once one of the most left-wing states in the country; now it’s one of the most right-wing.  What happened? Roger Ebert named the film one of the Ten Best Documentaries of the year.

And we’ll also talk with Tom about The Baffler, the magazine he founded and edited.  “The Journal that Blunts the Cutting Edge.”  The Baffler is back!  coming in March: special issue on the elections, featuring Tom Frank, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Rick Perlstein.

It’s the KPFK spring fund drive, and this hour we will be featuring the TOM FRANK SUPER-PACK (or is it “Super-PAC”?): the DVD of his documentary “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”, his new book Pity the Billionaire; and a one-year subscription to his magazine, The Baffler. Please call and pledge during the show: 818-985-5735.

Also: analysis of the Florida primary — and the likely shape of the Obama 2012 campaign.  ARI BERMAN has the news, good and bad — his book Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party and Reshape American Politics is out today in paperback, with new afterword.

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Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON on Obama’s State of the Union—and Obama’s problem with working-class whites. Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: PICO IYER talks about Graham Greene and his masterpiece The Quiet American – a “haunted kinship” links the two writers, whose restless travels and fascinatation with faith suggest some deeper connection.  Pico’s new book is The Man Within My Head. READ an excerpt at the LA Review of Books HERE.

LISTEN to this show online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
What Mitt Romney learned from his father, the liberal Republican star George Romney: RICK PERLSTEIN analyzes how the son was scarred for life by his father’s defeat in 1968. Rick now writes for Rolling Stone; he’s the author of the classics Nixonland and Before The Storm.

Also: Wisconsin Democrats submitted one million signatures on the petitition recalling Gov. Scott Walker – almost twice the number required. JOHN NICHOLS reports from Madison – he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and a frequent guest on MSNBC.

Plus: One woman’s quest for social justice in America, from the courtroom to the kill zones: CONNIE RICE is the activist hero who led in transforming the LAPD. Her new book is POWER CONCEDES NOTHING.
Connie will be reading and signing her book Thursday at 7pm at Vroman’s, 695 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.

LISTEN to this show online HERE — SUBSCRIBE to iTunes podcast HERE
Ten Years of Gitmo: Today is the tenth anniversary of the Bush administration establishing Guantanamo Bay as a prison free from the legal protections provided by the Constitution, a place where torture and illegality were routine. DAVID COLE says the injustice practiced there is now Obama’s responsibility – and all of ours. David teaches at the Georgetown Law Center and writes for The Nation and the New York Review and is the author of The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable.

PLUS: A new RY COODER song, “GUANTANAMO,” recorded for this anniversary day.

Also: Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire Republican primary, as expected, but Newt Gingrich’s super-Pac is running devastating anti-Romney ads in South Carolina – WATCH “When Mitt Romney Came to Town” HERE.  ARI BERMAN of The Nation will comment.

Plus: the legendary FATHER GREG BOYLE, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit. He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988. His wonderful book Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion is out now in paperback.  (Originally broadcast 5/12/2010. )  He will be in conversation with acclaimed journalist and poet Luis J. Rodríguez at the downtown public library ALOUD series next Tues Jan 17.  The event is “Full” but standby will be available.

Plus: Egypt: The year in review. From the glorious Arab Spring in Tahrir Square to the disturbing election results this month–ADAM SHATZ comments.  His essay “Whose Egypt?”  appears in the London Review of Books, HERE.

Also: American politics: the year in review.  HAROLD MEYERSON looks at the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Occupyers.  Harold writes a column for the Washington  Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: TOM FRANK talks about the “bottomless sense of grievance” on the right today – for example, the “Team Infidel” people who blast Korans with shotguns—see their YouTube video.  Tom wrote about “Semper Infidelis” for Harper’s in December; his new book is Pity the Billionaire.

Plus: GREIL MARCUS on The Doors.  They remain at the heart of “the mythic life of their generation” – and their music still “shimmers with the dread that is with us still.” Greil’s new book is The Doors: A Lifetime of Listening to Five Mean Years. Playlist: “Light My Fire” (live at the Matrix), “L.A. Woman,” “The End,”  “Gloria” (Live).

And we’ll pay tribute to CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, a frequent guest on the show — with an exerpt from our interview about God is Not Great. Christopher died on Saturday.

Posted at TheNation.com, HERE.

Plus: blacks and guns in America.  ADAM WINKLER looks at the twisted history of guns and gun control in the US.  Today it’s the left that wants gun control, but for most of American history gun control was the program of conservative whites who wanted to keep guns out of the hands of black people. Adam is professor of constitutional law at UCLA; his new book is GUNFIGHT: The Battle of the Right to Bear Arms in America.

Also: Protest in China: the year in review.  JEFF WASSERSTROM talks about strikes and economic actions; environmental protests about a toxic chemical plant: and widespread anger over the cover-up of a high speed rail crash–all of which make for anxious times for the CCP.  Jeff is chair of the history department at UC Irvine; recently he compared the Pepper Spray Cop meme with the Chinese Tank Man.  His latest book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Plus: The United States of Fear: TOM ENGELHARDT argues that, since 9-11, our leaders in Washington have sent the US down the “Soviet path,” pouring American treasure into the military, war, and national security – and driving our country towards the cliff.  Tom edits the indispensable Tom Dispatch; his new book is The United States of Fear.

Also: the Democratic Promise of Occupy Wall Street – William Greider of The Nation says that, while politics in Washington “now resembles an ecological dead zone,” the Occupy Wall Street movement is — “exhilerating.  “   We are “witnessing a rare event—the birth of a social movement.”

plus: Live from Cairo: MARK LeVINE reports on the elections, and election violence, in the Middle East’s most important city.  Mark teaches Middle Eastern history at UC Irvine and is a columnist for Al Jazeera English

Also: REBECCA SOLNIT says “If you ever doubted whether you were powerful or you mattered, just look at the reaction to people like you (or your children) camped out in parks from Oakland to Portland, Tucson to Manhattan”—the militarized police attacks on Occupyers from Manhattan to UC Davis. Rebecca wrote for TomDispatch.com.

Plus: Newt Gingrich’s cruelest campaign: replace school janitors with child labor.  JOHN NICHOLS talks about the current Republican front-runner – he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation and blogs for TheNation.com.

Today’s show is part of the Pacifica National Archives annual fundraiser – we will be asking listeners to support the Archives’ Campus Campaign, to place audio collections in high schools and colleges across the country.  Please call and pledge during the show 800-735-0230 or online here.

Special feature: RY COODER’s new song for the Occupy movement, “Wall Street Part of Town”–world premiere!

Also: TOM WAITS has an amazing new CD out, “Bad as Me” – SASHA FRERE-JONES of The New Yorker will comment.  SEE the “Visibile Tom Waits” HERE.

And FRANCES FOX PIVEN says Occupy Wall Street “has already made the concentration of wealth at the top of this society a central issue in American politics.  Now, it promises to do something similar when it comes to the realities of poverty in this country.” Piven, “the professor Glenn Beck loves to hate,” wrote about it for TomDispatch.com; her latest book is Who’s Afraid of Frances Fox Piven?

Also: It’s time to abolish the death penalty in California – with an initiative on the November ballot.  JAMES CLARK, southern California coordinator for the SAFE California Campaign, will explain the strategy—and the need for volunteers to help gather signatures.

Plus: RY COODER has a book out: Los Angeles Stories is a collection of  noir-ish tales of  L.A. in the late forties, and the outsiders and oddballs in the old downtown neighborhood Bunker Hill  and out  in Venice Beach.  Los Angeles Stories is our featured thank-you premium, along with Ry’s new CD, “Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down.”  Today’s NYTimes suggests Ry Cooder’s Song “No Banker Left Behind” as an anthem for the “Occupy” movement: watch “No Banker” HERE.
Please call and pledge during the hour: 818-985-5735 — or at kpfk.org.

Big Bill Broonzy – he left the Mississippi Delta to become a leading Chicago bluesman of the 1930s, singing about racial injustice alongside Pete Seeger and Studs Terkel; then traveling to Europe to ignite the British blues-rock revival of the 1960s with Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend. BOB REISMAN explains – his new book is I Feel so Good: the Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy.
Playlist: “Black, Brown, and White,” “This Train,” “I Feel So Good.”

Also: Whatever happened to the American left?  MICHAEL KAZIN says socialists. anarchists and communists never won much political power, but nevertheless their utopian spirit brought far-reaching cultural change.  And then there were the Abolitionists: we could learn a lot from them.  Michael’s new book is American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation.

Also: RUSSELL BANKS is one of our best writers – in his new novel, Lost Memory of Skin, his protagonist, “The Kid,” is a registered sex offender forbidden to live within 2,500 feet of a school or park – and thus forced to join a homeless camp under a Florida freeway bridge.  Russell Banks will be appearing at Writers Bloc tomorrow/Thurs at 7:30pm in Century City at the MGM Building, 10250 Constellation Boulevard, tickets are $20.
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Plus: The rise of a new American security state: Pulitzer-Prize winner DANA PRIEST of the Washington Post reports on a world so vast no one knows how many people it employs, how much money taxpayers spend on it, or whether “counterterrorism” and “homeland security” accomplish anything worthwhile.  Dana is co-author of the new book Top Secret America.

and Your Minnesota Moment: remember the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul?  Remember how Amy Goodman and two DemocracyNow producers were arrested while reporting on protests outside the convention in downtown St. Paul?  Amy won a significant settlement: details on air.

It says here you speak Japanese, Mandarin, and some Korean – why did the State Department send you to Iraq?

Along with the WMD’s, there was another misunderstanding . . .
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Also: The US effort to “Rebuild Iraq”: how about a plant producing frozen chicken — in a country with no electricity for refrigeration?   PETER VAN BUREN worked for the State Department during the “surge,” and recounts the way billions of dollars were lost to waste and fraud.  His hew book is “We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People.” (Watch chicken plant  PR video HERE.)
And now Peter seems to be the only State Dept. official facing firing over Wikileaks—for posting a link to Wikileaks at his book website.

Plus: L.A.’s jails are the worst in the nation – that’s what the ACLU says in a report issued today that details “severe and pervasive abuse” of inmates by deputies.   PETER ELIASBERG, Legal Director of the ACLU/SC, says Sheriff Lee Baca “must step down.”   See coverage in the LA Times (page one) and the NY Times today.  SIGN THE PETITION HERE.

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Today is the tenth anniversary of the War on Terror – of Congress authorizing the use of military force against terrorists.  The result has been disastrous – but now several members of the House have introduced legislation that would repeal the 2001 Authorization.  JOHN NICHOLS will comment: he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation and he blogs at TheNation.com.

Plus:  Whatever happened to poor people?  KATHA POLLITT says all the liberal talk about “rebuilding the middle class” fails to mention the massive spread of real poverty in America today.  Katha wrote about poverty for her column in The Nation this week.

Also: How movie stars shaped American politics: STEVEN J. ROSS will explain.  Steve teaches history at USC, he’s head of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities, and the author of the book Working Class Hollywood: Silent Film and the Shaping of Class in America. His new book is Hollywood Left and Right — it focuses on ten people including Charlie Chaplin,  Ronald Reagan, Jane Fonda and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Plus: The lost decade after 9/11: RICK PERLSTEIN comments.  We’ll also talk about the Republican candidates’ debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley at 5pm.    Rick wrote about 9/11 for The American Prospect; his latest book is Nixonland. READ Rick Perlstein “How Democrats Win” at Time.com HERE.

Also: FRANCES MOORE LAPPE wants to change the way we think to create the world we want – her new book is EcoMind.  She is the author of 17 books and cofounder of Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy, the Small Planet Institute, and the Small Planet Fund.  She will be speaking Wed. nite, Sept 7, 7pm at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave. Pasadena.

The problem with the Jerry Lewis Telethon was not that he tried to help people with muscular dystrophy. The problem was the way Jerry Lewis did it. . . . Jerry’s message was simple: “crippled children deserve pity.”  His critics offered an alternative: “people with disabilities deserve respect.”
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Also: HAROLD MEYERSON with our political update: he says “The Republicans will raise your taxes” — the payroll tax, a tax on working and middle class people.  Harold writes for the Washington Post op-ed page and he blogs for The American Prospect.

Plus: the Battle for COSTA MESA: the Republican city in deep Orange County is under attack from right-wing Republicans – TAD FRIEND says the battle there is “reminiscent of an earlier anti-union era, when the Pinkertons battered the Wobblies with fists and clubs.“  Tad Friend wrote about Costa Mesa politics for The New Yorker this week.

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SKIP GATES

We’ll also have a KPFK Sports report!  Views from left field — of pro football’s “concussion culture,” the way sex is used to sell women’s sports, and how NFL players beat owners in their latest battle – DAVE ZIRIN explains all — and all of these are stories in the Nation magazine’s new sports issue, and Dave is the guest editor.   He blogs at EdgeofSports.com.

Plus the media’s role in the fate of the world: MARIA ARMOUDIAN has the bad news about the media’s role in promoting genocide and war – and she also has some good news about places where the media contributed to reconciliation and justice.  Maria has written for the New York Times, the L.A. Times, Salon, and The Progressive .  And she’s the host and producer of Pacifica Radio programs The the Scholars’ Circle and the Insighters, heard here on KPFK Sundays at noon.  Her new book is KILL THE MESSENGER.

Also: from the archives: our interview with TERRY GROSS of NPR’s “Fresh Air” — her show is heard by  4.5 million people on 450 stations.  Topics:  what went wrong in her interviews with Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, and Bill O’Reilly. Also, I ask  “What is the deal with rumors that you are a lesbian?”  Her book, All I Did was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians and Artists, is out now in paperback.  (Originally broadcast 11/17/04)

Plus: the L.A. Art scene in the 1960s: in 1960 L.A. had no museum showing contemporary art, and only a few galleries — which is exactly what Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Judy Chicago and John Baldessari liked about it.  HUNTER DROHOJOWSKA -PHILP tells all – her new book is Rebels In Paradise: The Los Angeles Art Scene and the 1960s.  Hunter will be in conversation with Eve Babitz at the Hammer Museum, Westwood & Wilshire, tonight/Wed. at 7:00pm—the event is free.

Plus: The mess in Washington: HAROLD MEYERSON looks again at Obama’s concessions to the House Republicans, and their refusal to accept and claim victory.  Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and is editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: The Trouble with the Tomato: BARRY ESTABROOK reports on the winter tomato crop in Southern Florida – ground zero for slave labor.  Also, the tomatoes taste like cardboard.  Barry’s new book is Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed our Most Alluring Fruit. His article for Gourmet on labor abuses in Florida’s Tomato fields received the 2010 James Beard Award for magazine feature writing. Read it here.  And he blogs at PoliticsofthePlate.com.

Plus: “Being a white man in America is not what it used to be,” says GARY YOUNGE. He asks why so many people today are retreating into the refuges of religion, nationality, and race. Gary is a columnist for The Nation and the Guardian; his new book is WHO ARE WE: and Should It Matter in the 21st Century?
WATCH Gary’s videos for The Guardian of his 2010 roadtrip across the US HERE and HERE
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Also: Banned by Google! GREG MITCHELL has a new book out, about Hiroshima and Nagasaki – but Google told him they were “suspending” his online ad for the book on the grounds that it quote “promotes violence.”  The book is ATOMIC COVER-UP: Two US Soldiers, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and the Greatest Movie Never Made.
WATCH banned footage of Hiroshima & Nagasaki HERE

JW: The Village Voice called Super Sad True Love Story “the finest piece of anti-iPhone propaganda ever written.”

GS: I was a person like Lenny, fairly analogue, and to research this book I hired an assistant who got me an iPhone, and got me on Facebook and Twitter. I went from somebody who didn’t want to have anything to do with this new technology to somebody who became wildly addicted to it. Then, after finishing this book, I began developing strategies for not being online all the time.

Do you have any advice for people with the same problem? . . . contined at TheNation.com HERE

GARY SHTEYNGART talks about his hilarious political satire set in “the near future” – SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY. It’s about a world where the Bipartisan Party rules and where everybody gets their news either from Fox Liberty Prime or Fox Liberty Ultra.  And then Lenny meets Eunice. . . WATCH Gary’s video HERE;   GET Gary’s iPod app HERE

Plus: our political update from HAROLD MEYERSON, who says Obama has “moved so far to the right that he has picked up many of the ideals the Republicans have jettisoned and embraced them as his own.”  Harold writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and he’s interim executive editor of the American Prospect.

Also: When pop music meets politics – DORIAN LYNSKEY talks about 7 decades of protest songs.  He writes about music for The Guardian; his book is 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs from Billie Holliday to Green Day. PLAYLIST: Nina Simone, “Mississippi Goddam,” Live 1964; James Brown, “Say it Loud,” 1968; Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: “The Message,” 1979; Green Day, “American Idiot,” 2004.

Plus: Seth Walsh committed suicide when he was 13 after enduring years of harassment at school in Tehachapi because he was gay. The federal Office of Civil Rights recently negotiated a sweeping settlement with the Tehachapi schools.  And the ACLU-SC launched The Seth Walsh Project to stop harassment of other gay kids.  JAMES GILLIAM explains – he’s Director of the Project.
GLBTQ students: know your rights: HERE. WATCH “It Gets Better” HERE

Also: KPFK Sports!  The Dodgers are victims of “CEO capitalism run amok” – that’s what HAROLD MEYERSON says, he’s executive editor The American Prospect and writes for the op-ed pages of the Washington Post and the L.A. Times.

Plus: Homeless vets in Brentwood: the ACLU of Southern California is suing the V.A., which rents part of the Brentwood V.A. land to Enterprise rent-a-car and part to a laundry for the Marriott hotels, but refuses to fulfill their legal obligation to house homeless disabled vets.  MARK ROSENBAUM will explain – he’s Chief Counsel of the ACLU-SC.

Also: Wal-Mart–Too Big to Sue:  NELSON LICHTENSTEIN reviews the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that women workers at Wal-Mart can’t file a class action suit. Nelson teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara and is the author of The Retail Revolution, a history of Wal-Mart.  READ Nelson’s NYTimes op-ed HERE.

Plus: Dodgers for Sale?  DAVE ZIRIN is the author of Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love (Scribner) – and explains the latest news about how owner Frank McCourt is ruining the Dodgers. Dave writes for The Nation and blogs at Edge of Sports ; his new doc is “Not Just a Game.”
READ Dave on “This Day in History: When Muhammad Ali Took the Weight” HERE

Plus: The Korean War — BRUCE CUMINGS reveals the historical background that explains why it happened, and the extraordinarily vicious methods by which the U.S. fought it.  His new book is The Korean War: A History.

Also: Nixon and Watergate, then and now: historian STANLEY KUTLER sued the feds to force the release of the Nixon White House tapes — and won.  (He also writes for the Huffington Post.)  Now the full story is told for the first time at the Nixon Library in their new Watergate exhibit.  Stan will be speaking at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda Wed. 6/1 at 7pm on “Liberating the Watergate Tapes.”  Reservations recommended: Email nixon@nara.gov or call 714-983-9120.

It’s the KPFK Fund Drive, and our featured premium is the 2 DVD set of “No Direction Home” for a pledge of $100.00. Other premiums: Dylan Live at Brandeis 1963 CD $50.00; eight of my own interviews about Dylan on KPFK, 2001-2011, including: Greil Marcus on “Love and Theft” (2001), Greil on “Like a Rolling Stone” (2009), Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album (2001), Sean on Dylan in China (2011), and lots more.  Available for a $50 pledge, or a free add-on to any pledge $100 or more.  Call and pledge during the show, 818-985-5735, or online at www.kpfk.org. Co-hosted by Alan Minsky and Maggie LePique.

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The L.A. Times Festival of Books is at USC this weekend.  Our BookFest Preview show features  RUSSELL JACOBY on the roots of violence:  his book Bloodlust argues that the greatest violence is typically not aimed at “The Other” but rather occurs in Civil Wars.  his panel is Sat. at 2pm in the Davidson Conference Center.  Watch Russell HERE.

TOM LUTZ talks about the brand new L.A. Review of Books — he’s editor, and also chair of the writing program at UC Riverside.  His panel, “The New Shape of the Book,” will be Sun. at 3:30 in Seeley Mudd 124.

NAOMI ORESKES explains how a handful of scientists obscured the truth on issues from tobacco smoke to global warming. Her co-authored book  Merchants of Doubt is out now in paperback.  Her panel is Sat. at 11am in Taper 101. WATCH Naomi HERE.

REBECCA SOLNIT: her book Infinite City does wonderful things with maps.  Her panel is Sat. at 3pm in the Andrus Gerontology Center.

Did the Republicans commit suicide

Also: An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing healthcare and deceiving Americans: WENDELL POTTER walked away from a lucrative career to fight an industry that puts profits ahead of patient care.  His book is Deadly Spin.

Plus: Cold War Hollywood – film critic J. HOBERMAN talks about the 1950s, when the film industry purged the left and gave filmgoers a pageant of John Wayne cavalry Westerns, apocalyptic sci-fi flicks, and biblical spectaculars.  His new book is An Army of Phantoms: American Movies and the Making of the Cold War. “Cultural history doesn’t get any better—or scarier—than this.”—Mike Davis.

ALSO:  Japanese officials now admit the radiation release from Fukushima is as bad as Chernobyl.  DAN HIRSCH will explain — he teaches at UC Santa Cruz and heads Committee to Bridge the Gap.

Plus:  In Obama’s deficit speech today he contrasted his vision of “the kind of future we want” with the Republicans’.  We’ll have commentary from HAROLD MEYERSON, he’s editor at large of The American Prospect and he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page.

Plus: Women of Wal-Mart, Unite!  NELSON LICHTENSTEIN reports on the class-action suit of women workers at Wal-Mart – which would be the largest in the history of the world.  Nelson teaches labor history at UC Santa Barbara and is the author of The Retail Revolution, a history of Wal-Mart.

Also: Men, Women and Unions: Why cops and firemen change the picket line equation.  NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER worked as an SEIU organizer for five years; now she’s covering the Wisconsin story – and writing about it for The Atlantic the New York Times op-ed page.

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Nuclear power industry execs testified in Washington yesterday that we have nothing to worry about – except perhaps the fact that almost all American nuclear power plants have backup batteries that would last only half as long as those at Japan’s troubled Fukushima.  DAN HIRSCH comments: he’s head of Committee to Bridge the Gap, which has been fighting nuclear power for more than three decades.

Plus, our Wisconsin update:  JOHN NICHOLS reports live from Madison  – he calls it “Lawless FitzWalkerstan.” WATCH recall campaign TV ad HERE

Also: Lincoln and slavery: how our greatest president changed his mind about abolition, emancipation, and black voting rights: historian ERIC FONER explains — and provides helpful hints about updating a lecture on Lincoln.  His book The Fiery Trial just won the Bancroft Prize and the Lincoln Prize, the two biggest awards in the history profession.  (originally broadcast 12/1/10)

Plus: The epic story of black migration out of the South –ISABEL WILKERSON tells that story in The Warmth of Other Suns. Her award-winning book is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/21/10)

Also: Haiti’s Aristide problem: Haitians voted for a new president on Sunday, just after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned from seven years in exile.  AMY WILENTZ says that, as president, Aristide “changed nothing structurally.” Amy’s unforgettable book about Haiti is THE RAINY SEASON; her piece “The Haitian Lazarus” appeared in the New York Times op-ed page.

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The danger of nuclear power, from Fukushima to Diablo Canyon: DAN HIRSCH explains why the risks of nuclear power are too great.  Dan heads the Committee to Bridge the Gap, and teaches at UC Santa Cruz; we saw him on “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC Monday night.

Plus: MARK LeVINE has just returned from Bahrain, where Saudi troops have intervened to defend the American-backed king from popular protest.  Mark, a historian at UC Irvine, is the author of Heavy Metal Islam: Religion, Popular Culture and Resistance in the Middle East.

Also: Do you worry about Money? want more Money?  worry about wanting more Money? Then you need to go to the workshop run by Robin and Randy Petraeus, Power Couple (TIM HAMELIN & JOCELYN TOWNE).  JONAS OPPENHEIM talks about his hilarious play “FREE $$$,” which runs at the Sacred Fools Theater in Hollywood Thurs and Sun nights thru April 3.  info at http://www.freemoney4U.info.

Also: The legendary FATHER GREG BOYLE, Jesuit pastor of Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights starting in 1986, has made it his mission to help gang members who want to quit.  He founded Homeboy Industries in 1988.  Now his wonderful book: Tattoos on the Heart: Stories of Hope and Compassion is out in paperback. (first aired 5/12/10)

Plus:   How a generation of women came to realize their dissatisfaction with domestic life didn’t reflect a personal inadequacy but rather a social and political injustice:  STEPHANIE COONTZ talks about Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, 50 years after its publication.  Stephanie’s new book is A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s. Watch Stephanie on The Colbert Report HERE.

Also: “LENNONYC” -- the new documentary on John Lennon’s life in New York City from his arrival in 1971 to his murder in 1980.  We’ll speak with MICHAEL EPSTEIN, director/producer/writer of the film, about Lennon’s music and politics in those crucial years when he stood up against the Vietnam War and fought Nixon’s attempt to deport him.

LENNONYC, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, is our featured premium in the KPFK Fund Drive this afternoon — please call 818-985-5735 and pledge your support — or pledge online HERE.

ALSO: “NOT JUST A GAME”: DAVE ZIRIN, sports editor for The Nation, shows how sports have reflected, and at times shaped, the political battles and social struggles at the heart of American society.  “If there were an award for ‘Most Valuable Sportswriter,’ I would vote for Dave Zirin.”- Howard Zinn.
Dave’s documentary film, “Not Just a Game,” will be our featured fund drive premium this afternoon in the 4pm hour – please call and pledge, 818-985-5735.

Also: Justice and health for girls in prison: LESLIE OCOCA heads the National Girls Health and Justice Foundation.  Today 1 in 5 of the nearly two million youth being held in detention nationally are girls, many of whom have serious physical and mental health needs that are not treated adequately.

Plus: Obama and Egypt: Why won’t our president speak out for democracy when the Egyptians are risking their lives for it?  ARI BERMAN comments: he’s an investigative journalism fellow at The Nation Institute and he wrote about Obama and the Egyptians for The Nation HERE.

Also: Last night’s State of the Union was a speech about Obama’s view of where jobs come from: from government help for corporations.  But those corporations have not been hiring workers in the US, says  HAROLD MEYERSON: he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and he’s editor at large of The American Prospect.

Plus:  Baby Doc is back.  AMY WILENTZ returned last week from Haiti on the first anniversary of the earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people – and after the ominous return of former dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier.  Amy wrote about Haiti for the L.A. Times. “Haiti Stories” conference at UCLA Sat. 1/29: info HERE.

Plus: TOM WAITS is the brilliant singer/songwriter with the growly voice and the haunting music.  Barney Hoskyns talks about his life and music – his bio, Lowside of the Road , is out now in paperback.   Playlist: “Jersey Girl,” “16 Shells from a 30 ought six,”  ”I’m Big in Japan,” “Get Behind the Mule.”  (originally aired 7/22/2009)

Also:  One, Two, Many Chinas: Chinese President Hu Jintau is meeting in Washington today with Obama – we’ll have comment from JEFF WASSERSTROM, he writes for many places including The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, and he has a new co-authored piece at Time.com this week.  His new book is China in the 21^st Century – What Everyone Needs To Know.

Plus: Obama goes to Arizona: ARI BERMAN says the president should follow the example set by Bill Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing: Clinton told the far right, “There is nothing patriotic about hating your government.” Ari writes for The Nation; his new book is Herding Donkeys.

Also: historian IRA BERLIN talks about recent immigration from Africa and the Caribbean – his book The Making of African America is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 3/17/10).

Also: BARBARA EHRENREICH talks about Americans’ “unwholesome love affair with Positive Thinking.”  She says losing your job, or your home, is not “an opportunity.”  Her book BRIGHT SIDED: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 11/11/09) Read the Journal of Happiness Studies HERE.

Plus: Obama Year Three: ARI BERMAN talks about what happened in the lame duck Congress and Obama’s agenda for the coming year: anything there about jobs?  Ari is a political correspondent for The Nation;  he’s also written for Rolling Stone and the Guardian. His new book is Herding Donkeys: The Fight to Rebuild the Democratic Party, where he says it’s time to revive the 2008 grassroots Obama movement.

Also: The Museum of Jurassic Technology is one of the treasures of Los Angeles–it’s a weird and wonderful place on Venice Boulevard that attracts art fanatics from around the world.  Founder and director DAVID WILSON raises big questions about really small art.  (originally broadcast 6-19-2001).

Plus: THELONIOUS MONK wasn’t a naive, childlike, eccentric character – that’s what historian ROBIN KELLEY says.  He talks about the life, the times, and the music of  “an American original.” Robin teaches at USC; his book Thelonious Monk is out now in paperback.  PLAYLIST: “‘Round Midnight,”  “Well You Needn’t,” “Straight No Chaser,” “Sweet and Lovely” – 1947 Blue Note sessions.  (originally broadcast 10-21-09)

10. “The Irish can’t drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I’ve known gets mean when he drinks.” –to Chuck Colson,  White House hatchet man, Feb. 13, 1973.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Also: Islamophobia — the year in review: MAX BLUMENTHAL of The Nation will look back at the alarming rise in attacks on Muslims and Islam in the US, ten years after 9-11.  Max is the author  Republican Gomorrah; read his new piece “The Great Fear” at TomDispatch.com HERE .

Plus: BOB DYLAN’s Christmas album: is this a joke — or a tragedy? SEAN WILENTZ explains — he’s historian-in-residence at the official Bob Dylan website, and his new book is Bob Dylan in America.  READ Sean Wilentz on Dylan’s Xmas album HERE. LISTEN to samples HERE. PLAYLIST: “Here Comes Santa Claus”; “I’ll Be Home for Xmas”; “Must Be Santa,” “Winter Wonderland”; “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” (originally broadcast 11/11/09)

Our Haiti update from AMY WILENTZ: elections last Sunday – no results yet.  And almost a year after the killer earthquake, a million people are still homeless. And now there’s a cholera epidemic.  Amy wrote about the elections for the New York Times op-ed page.

Lincoln and slavery: how our greatest president changed his mind about abolition, war, emancipation, and black voting rights, and why he gave up the idea that freed slaves would have to leave the US:  Columbia University  historian ERIC FONER explains — his new book is The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

Plus: DANIEL ELLSBERG has been arrested more than 60 times – but not for the Pentagon Papers.  In this interivew he recalls his anti-war activism in — and out — of jail.

Also: GREIL MARCUS has been writing about BOB DYLAN since the mid-sixties, working with “a fan’s intensity and a detective’s persistence.”   Greil’s new book, collecting 40 years of criticism — and ending with Dylan’s performance on election night in 2008 in Minneapolis, is Bob Dylan by Greil Marcus: Writings, 1968-2010.
Playlist: “With God on our Side,” Live 1964 at Philharmonic Hall (with Joan Baez); “Like a Rolling  Stone,” Best of the Original Mono Recordings.

Sarah Palin could win the presidency in 2012

And we have a potential third-party spoiler, Rich says: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

The Pacifica Archives Campus Campaign places unique historical audio in college and school libraries: 180 hours of audio in two volumes from the vault:  Civil Rights, 1968, Women’s Studies, The Environment, Malcolm X, Noam Chomsky, and Studs Terkel, Black Power, and more.  Presented in mp3 format on 18 discs, this set requires a pledge of $250 — please call during the show — or pledge online HERE.

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW

Also: GAIL COLLINS, the New York Times op-ed columnist, traces women’s progress from the fifties to the present, from “My Little Margie” to Hillary for President — and Sarah Palin for Vice President.  Her book When Everything Changed is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 11/18/09)

Plus:  Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin:  STEPHEN COHEN has spent 30 years interviewing Stalin’s victims, and talks about how they survived and their long struggle to obtain justice in Russia today.  Steve’s new book is The Victims Return – he’ll be speaking and signing Friday Nov. 19 at 700pm at Book Soup on Sunset Strip.

More stuff to read: for the 40^th anniversary of Doonesbury,  “My favorite Doonesbury character, Mr. Butts” – at TheNation.com, HERE.

Mr. Butts crossed over from the comics to real life in 1994, when University of California tobacco researcher Dr. Stanton Glantz received a big Fedex box with the return address “Mr. Butts.” The box, as I reported in The Nation . . .
. . .continued at TheNation.com HERE

The Tea Party Senate candidates made big news, but they ran mostly in small states. Also, several lost.

. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE.

Why are the Republicans doing so badly in California, when they are anticipating sweeping victories so many other places?

. . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE.

The answer, in brief: the rabbis are ambivalent.

. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Also: TOM HAYDEN on the new WikiLeaks: the largest classified military leak in history –400,000 pages that document the brutal war and occupation in Iraq.  Tom of course is a leading voice for ending the wars in Iraq and Aftghanistan, after 40 years of activism, politics, and writing.

. . .  The reason can be found in the new polls: most Californians don’t like Sarah Palin.  According to last week’s Field Poll, 69 percent of the state’s independent voters say they have an “unfavorable” impression of the former Alaska governor. . . . Continued at TheNation.com HERE.

And 84-year-old ELMORE LEONARD has just published his 48^th novel: Djibouti.  We’ll ask him about his famous “rules for writing” (originally broadcast 2/28/2004)

Also: How to Win Elections: JAMIE COURT explains how to win grassroots campaigns, pass ballot box laws, and get the change we voted for.  Court, a longtime organizer of ballot campaigns and other initiatives, is the author of The Progressive’s Guide to Raising Hell. WATCH Jamie’s 30-second video now running in Times Square on the Jumbotron HERE.

Plus;  highlights from the great documentary “The US vs. John Lennon,” featuring the bed-in for peace, Beatle record-burnings, and Geraldo Rivera, Tariq Ali and Gore Vidal on Lennon.
It’s the KPFK fund drive, and we’ll be featuring as thank you gifts the DVD of “The US vs John Lennon,” plus the new “Double Fantasy Stripped Down” CD, and a few surprises.  Please listen – and please call 818-985-5735 and pledge during the show!  Saturday noon-1:00pm, 90.7FM, streaming live at www.kpfk.org.

Also: JOHN NICHOLS with our political update – how bad are things for the Dems?  Why is Wisconsin’s progressive hero Russ Feingold in trouble?  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.  DOWNLOAD the entire new issue of The Nation HERE.

Plus: a chat with YOKO ONO about her plans for Oct. 9, which would have been John Lennon’s 70^th birthday.  KPFK will feature a 12-hour John Lennon special on Oct. 9 – I’ll be hosting noon-100pm, featuring lots of rare audio, and the documentary “The U.S. vs. John Lennon” on DVD as a fund drive premium.

Also: democracy and slavery: In the era of emancipation of Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s, the federal government promised former slaves equality and political rights, including the vote.  That history is told by ERIC FONER – he teaches history at Columbia University, and he’s the author of Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction. (Originally broadcast 1-25-2006)

Plus: the conservative assault on the constitution: ERWIN CHEMERINSKY explains the Supreme Court’s dramatic shift to the right and how it has given presidents, police and corporations unprecedented power.  Erwin is founding dean of the law school at UC Irvine; his new book is The Conservative Assault on the Constitution.

Plus: The epic story of black migration out of the South –Pulitzer-prize winning journalist ISABEL WILKERSON tells that story in The Warmth of Other Suns. She will be speaking at the LA Public Library ALOUD series, 5^th and  Flower streets downtown, Wed. nite at 7:00 pm — reservations free but recommended: HERE.

Also: The end of the American university? ELLEN SHRECKER talks about the assault on academic freedom and the take-over of higher education by corporate money and priorities.  Ellen is professor of history at Yeshiva University and has written extensively on the Cold War red scare; her new book is The Lost Soul of Higher Education. Joan Scott calls it “at once a grim forecast and a rally cry.”

LISTEN ONLINE TO THIS SHOW – SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST
In the Delaware Senate primary yesterday, Tea Party Republicans “ditched a seemingly certain November winner for a likely loser”–and thereby lost whatever chance the GOP had to take over the Senate.  JOHN NICHOLS will explain – he’s Washington Correspondent for The Nation, and he writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Plus: Fifties TV was not just sitcoms selling soap and toothpaste – powerful groups and corporations sought to use the new medium to influence the masses.  ANNA McCARTHY tells that story – she’s co-editor of the journal Social Text, she teaches in the department of Cinema Studies and NYU, and her new book is The Citizen Machine: Governing by Television in 1950s America.

Also: Women won the right to vote 90 years ago – it’s hard now to realize how strongly men fought to keep them out of the polling booth.  CHRISTINE STANSELL reminds us what happened, and what the consequences were – she is a Distinguished Professor of History at the U. of Chicago, she’s written for the New York Times op-ed page and The New Republic;  she’s written many books, most recently The Feminist Promise, 1792 to the Present.

Plus: AMY WILENTZ reports on her return to Haiti last month — as the country prepares for an election, to be held ten months after the earthquake.   Amy wrote about her trip for The New Yorker: “Running in the Ruins.” Her book The Rainy Season: Haiti Then and Now, is out now in a new paperback edition.

Also: KATHA POLLITT has just returned from a year in Berlin; she says “IT’S BETTER OVER THERE.” Germany doesn’t have the kind of destitution we take for granted in the United States, especially for African-Americans. The strong German safety net keeps people from plunging into the abyss.  Katha is a poet, essayist and columnist for The Nation; she has been named the recipient of the American Book Award’s prestigious “Lifetime Achievement” prize for 2010.

Also we’ll speak with historian MICHAEL BELLESILES about the violent and ugly America of 1877.  His new book is 1877: America’s Year of Living Violently. Michael teaches history at Central Connecticut State University.

Also: China just passed Japan as the number two economic power in the world – and yet China is still ruled by a Communist Party. Historian JEFF WASSERSTROM will explain some of the paradoxes here – Jeff writes for Foreign Policy the Christian Science Monitor, and the Huffington Post, and is chair of the history department at UC Irvine. He is co-founder of the blog ChinaBeat.org, and his new book is CHINA IN THE 21^ST CENTURY: WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW.

Also: the “Ground Zero Mosque” in lower Manhattan — should it find another site, out of “respect for the 9-11 families,” and the ADL argues?  STEPHEN ROHDE explains why “It is wise, it is right, it is good for that mosque and community center to be built in that place.”  Stephen is co-president of Progressive Jewish Alliance and chair of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace.

Plus: “Mad Men” is the best series on TV right now – NATASHA VARGAS-COOPER talks about sex, literature, politics, and of course advertising on the show – and how it portrays the “cultural matrix” of the early sixties.  The New Yorker called her MAD MEN UNBUTTONED “the richest of the “Mad Men” books.”

Also:  TOM FRANK just finished a two-year term as the voice of left wing sanity at the crazed op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal – he was there in 2008 when “the market god collapsed” — And he was there when it was revived.  Tom’s books include What’s the Matter with Kansas? and The Wrecking Crew.  He starts a new column for Harper’s in December.

HAROLD MEYERSON

Plus: “METHLAND”: small town America has been crushed by union busting and agribusiness – and now an incredibly cheap, long-lasting, and highly effective drug has taken hold: NICK REDING tells the story of one town’s struggle with crystal meth.  His award-winning book Methland is out now in paperback.

Also: Obama abandoned his environmental and energy programs. But cities have taken the initiative towards green energy and green jobs — and L.A. is in the lead, on some fronts at least. 
JOAN FITZGERALD will explain. She’s Director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University, and her new book is Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development.

Also: HENRY FORD’s Amazon colony — historian GREG GRANDIN tells the story of Ford’s biggest failure.  His book Fordlandia is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/2/2008)

Plus: Politics and modern music: Hitler and Stalin went to the opera, and Joe McCarthy subpoenaed composers. What was going on?  ALEX ROSS explains – he’s music critic for The New Yorker, where’s he’s written not only about classical music but also about Bjork, Bob Dylan and Radiohead.  His award-winning book, out now in paperback, is THE REST IS NOISE: Listening to the 20th Century, and his famous website is www.TheRestIsNoise.com. (originally broadcast 5/14/2008)

. . . . from The Nation, Aug. 16 issue, continued HERE or HERE

Also –from the Center for the Study of the Lower East Side, our interview with the great RICHARD PRICE about his novel — out now in paperback – LUSH LIFE. (originally broadcast 3/09)

Plus: FRIEDRICH ENGELS – “a foxhunting man, a womanizing, champagne-drinking capitalist” – and a lifelong revolutionary. Also, “far more adventurous than Marx when it came to exploring the ramifications of his and Marx’s thinking.” TRISTRAM HUNT explains.  MARX’S GENERAL: THE REVOLUTIONARY LIFE OF FRIEDRICH ENGELS is his book, out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 9/09)

Also: Obama is having a bad summer – who do the Republicans have on deck to challenge him?  JOHN NICHOLS says it looks like SARAH PALIN is the best they’ve got–and, he says, the current primary season shows her to be smarter and more capable than we thought.  John is Washington correspondent for The Nation and writes “The Beat” blog at TheNation.com.

Also: KPFK Sports!  The owners are ruining the games we love – that’s what DAVE ZIRIN says, starting with George Steinbrenner, who died recently.  The big question: Are the Frank and Jamie McCourt, owners of the Dodgers,  spending more money on their divorce lawyers than on their pitching staff? Dave writes about the politics of sports in his new book Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love.

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Also: How a new form of slavery was imposed on hundreds of thousands of African-Americans after the Civil War: DOUGLAS BLACKMON found that tens of thousands of southern blacks were arrested, often for “vagrancy;” unable to pay their fines, they were sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations. His book Slavery by Another Name won 2009 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction; it’s out now in paperback.

Plus: Is Dick Cheney now the leader of the Republican Party? BART GELLMAN of the Washington Post talks about Cheney’s past — his hidden role in the Bush administration’s most fateful choices: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting “cruel and inhuman” methods of interrogation.  Bart Gellman’s book ANGLER, out now in paperback, won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Nonfiction for 2009.  Watch Bart Gellman on The Daily Show HERE.
show originally broadcast 5-6-09.

Also: MAZEL TOV, MIS AMIGOS: JOSH KUN has unearthed some amazing connections between Latin and Jewish popular music – from Yiddish mambos to Fiddler on the Roof charangas.  Also: how Tito Puente ended up playing the Catskills.  Josh teaches at USC’s Annenberg school and is director of the Popular Music Project there.  He curated the exhibition “Jews on Vinyl” currently at the Skirball Museum, and will be hosting a listening party tomorrow/Thurs there at 730pm.  Details HERE.

Plus: How Bush’s wars became Obama’s: TOM ENGELHARDT analyzes “a disaster that is yet to end.”  Tom created and runs the indispensable TomDispatch.com, and is the author of The End of Victory Culture; Andrew Bacevich says “Tom Engelhardt is the I.F. Stone of the post 9/11 age.”  Tom’s new book is THE AMERICAN WAY OF WAR.

Plus: A strike in China at an enormous Honda transmission factory has unexpectedly turned into a symbol of the exploitation of Chinese workers.  JEFFREY WASSERSTROM comments; he teaches history at UCI, writes for the Huffington Post and the China Beat blog, and his new book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know .

Also: The US role in giving birth to Al Qaeda as an anti-Soviet force in Afghanistan is well-known — but it was not the beginning of enlisting Islamists to fight the Soviets.  Pulitzer-prize winning Wall Street Journal reporter IAN JOHNSON traces the practice back to Hitler in WWII, and then to the CIA in Germany during the Cold War.  He tells the story in A Mosque in Munich: Nazis, the CIA, and the Rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the West.

Also: the Plastic Panic:  Dr. JEROME GROOPMAN asks how worried should we be about everyday chemicals? Children are especially vulnerable.  Groopman is a staff writer for The New Yorker. he also teaches at the Harvard Medical School and is the chief of Experimental Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and he wrote the book How Doctors Think.

Plus: it’s Miles Davis’s birthday today – he would have been 84 years old today — and in honor of his birthday we’ll replay our interview from March 2000 with QUINCY TROUPE – he collaborated on Miles’s autobiography, and then wrote the book Miles and Me. We’ll talk about “Kind of Blue,” “Bitches Brew,” and Quincy’s work with Miles on the books.  Quincy is now professor emeritus at UC San Diego.

Also: Legalization of marijuana will be on the Nov. 2 ballot in California: for our fund drive premium today we are featuring The Marijuana Grower’s Handbook by ED ROSENTHAL, “the guru of ganja”: everything you need to know in a beautiful 500 page book.

Plus: Do you wanna dance? ALICE ECHOLS talks about disco: how it carved out a haven for gay men; how it thrust black women onto center stage; how “disco sucks” expressed the worst in America. Alice teaches American studies at Rutgers. Her new book is  Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture. Alice will be reading and signing at Book Soup Monday 5/17, 7pm. Playlist: Bee Gees, “Stayin Alive”;  Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough”;  Sylvester, “You Make Me Feel”; Donna Summer, “Bad Girls.”

Also: Between Arabs and Israelis: Weeks before the Suez War of 1956, four-year-old KAI BIRD and his family moved to Jerusalem.  He lived between Arabs and Israelis for much of his life — in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Lebanon.  Crossing Mandelbaum Gate is his personal history of growing up an American in the midst of three major wars in the Middle East. Kai is a contributing editor of The Nation; he won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his co-authored Robert Oppenheimer bio. He will be speaking in the LA Public Library ALOUD series Monday May 17, 7pm.

Also: Greil Marcus on Van Morrison, the wild and turbulent Northern Irish singer-songwriter who recorded the songs “Wild Night” and “Brown Eyed Girl” and the albums “Astral Weeks” and “Moondance.”  Greil’s new book is When That Rough God Roes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison.  Greil will be reading and signing Friday at 7:30pm Skylight Books , 1818 N. Vermont Ave.

Plus: yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Kent State killings; and we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment:  St. Paul’s mayor takes action against Arizona for its new anti-immigrant law.

Daniel Widener talks about culture and black struggle in postwar L.A. — he teaches history at UCSD and his new book is Black Arts West. We’ll also talk about the recent racist activity at UCSD — and the compendium of documents about it,  ‘Another University is Possible.’   Danny will be speaking at Eso Won Books on Fri. May 7, 7pm in Liemert Park.



The bill bans classes that “promote resentment toward a race or class of people,” “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group,” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals.”

Also prohibited: all those classes that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.”

. . . continued at TheNation.com HERE

Plus:  ROBERT KUTTNER talks about A Presidency in Peril: The Inside Story of Obama’s Promise, Wall Street’s Power, and the Struggle to Control our Economic Future.
Bob is a founder of The American Prospect, contributor to the Boston Globe and the Huffington Post and has worked as chief investogator for the Senate Banking Committee.

Also: REBECCA SKLOOT talks about how racism, poverty and science came together in the case of a poor black woman whose cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. Rebecca’s book is THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS.  Rebecca’s LA events: Thurs. 4/29 at 7pm at Eso Won Books in Liemert Park in L.A. – 4331 Degnan Blvd. in L.A.; Fri., 4/30 at 7PM: at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena; more local events HERE.

Plus ROBERT MEEROPOL talks about the 20^th anniversary of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.  He also will report on new info on the Rosenberg case in the new  book Exoneration by Emily and David Alman.  Upcoming RFC events in LA:  Sat. in Santa Monica, 4:30-6:30: contact Henry Slucki 310-556-2529 or hslucki@usc.edu; Sun. 10:15am, “New Revelations in the Rosenberg Case” American Jewish Univ., 15600 Mulholland Dr., Bel-Air.  more info HERE.

Also: politics and photography – DOROTHEA LANGE took the photo called “Migrant Mother,” the iconic image of the Great Depression and the New Deal -0- and a lot of other photos the government censored.  LINDA GORDON will explain – her book Dorothea Lange, a Life Beyond Limits has been nominated for the LA Times Book Prize in biography. Linda’s session at the BookFest is Saturday 12:30pm in Young Hall.  (originally broadcast 11/4/2009)

The practice of using a pseudonym to post denunciations of rivals or critics on the internet is called “using a sock puppet.”   CONTINUED at TheNation.com: HERE.

Also: KPFK Sports! the Dodgers’ won their home opener yesterday 9-5 against the Arizona Diamondbacks –we’ll speak with MARK KURLANSKY about the Dodgers who started out in Dominican Republic. Mark’s new book is The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris. He’ll be at the BookFest at UCLA Sunday April 25 at 1:30 in Young Hall.

Plus: China today has more millionaires, more skyscrapers, and more internet users than any other country. But what happened to Mao? What happened to the Cultural Revolution?  Everything you need to know about China – but were afraid to ask: UCI historian JEFF WASSERSTROM will explain. His new book is China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know.
Jeff will be at the BookFest at UCLA on the China panel Sunday April 25 at noon in Young Hall.

Plus: our Washington update with HAROLD MEYERSON, he writes a column for the Washington Post op-ed page and he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Also: “SAVING STATE U.”: NANCY FOLBRE says public universities and colleges need a commitment to “an economic system that nurtures hope, curiosity and confidence in the future citizens of our country.” Nancy is a staff economist with the Center for Popular Economics; she teaches economics at UMass Amherst, and she writes for the New York Times Economix blog, where she wrote recently about “The World’s Best Countries for Women.” She also won a MacArthur “genius” award.
Read about misuse of UC student fees HERE

Your Minnesota Moments: Sarah Palin in Minneapolis HERE;  Fact-Checking Michelle Bachman HERE

Also: Is Obama’s health care bill constitutional? 14 state attorney generals say it isn’t.   ERWIN CHEMERINSKY comments – he’s dean of the law school at UC Irvine.

Plus: TOM FRANK asks, When will the GOP stop whining about the ‘elites’? Glen Beck & Co. claim to be victims — of those darn liberals who control everything.  Tom is the author of What’s the Matter with Kansas? and he writes a column for the Wall Street Journal. He’s also founding editor of The Baffler. WATCH the TRAILER for the documentary “What’s the Matter with Kansas” HERE

Scary new Harris poll: GOP Beliefs about Obama: “He’s a Socialist”: 67% agree;  “He’s a Muslim”: 57% agree;  “Not born in the US”: 45% agree;  “May be the Anti-Christ”: 24% agree.  (And I thought the antiChrist was . . . Johnny Rotten!)  More info HERE.

Also: How a well-connected oil company revolutionized the way America makes war – and why Obama still needs them: PRATAP CHATTERJEE talks about the past and future of Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR. Pratap is senior editor of CorpWatch and has written for the Financial Times, the Guardian and The Independent of London. His book Halliburton’s Army is out now in paperback.

Also: Columnist HAROLD MEYERSON says “the road to America’s economic recovery starts in LA”: with a sales tax increase passed in November 2008 by L.A. County’s voters to construct new rail and bus lines — a major environmental and stimulus program that won’t add to the federal deficit.  He wrote about it in his column for for the Washington Post op-ed page.

And historian IRA BERLIN analyzes four epic migrations of African-Americans: the slave trade; then the relocation of a million slaves to the interior of the antebellum South; then the move by six million blacks to northern cities a century later; and since the late 1960s, the arrival of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean.
Ira teaches at the University of Maryland; his new book is The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations.

Also: “Consider the Germans”: TOM GEOGHEGHAN notes that, since 2003, it’s not China but Germany, “that colossus of European socialism,” that has led the world in exports. Germany has somehow managed to create a high-wage, unionized economy without shipping all its jobs abroad or creating a massive trade deficit, or any trade deficit at all.  Tom is a labor lawyer who wrote about Germany for the March Harper’s.

Plus: Debunking 9-11 Conspiracy Theories: DAVID AARONOVITCH is a columnist for The Times (London) and a recipient of the Orwell Prize for Political Journalism. (Other winners: Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk.)  His new book Voodoo Histories is “a brilliant, sparkling, and witty demolition” of  9-11 conspiracy theories, “and an analysis of why otherwise intelligent people are so ready to believe in them.” – Ian Kershaw, author of Hitler.

Plus: HAROLD MEYERSON says “Like earthquakes, Goldman Sachs can strike anytime. Its work can slumber undetected for years, only to erupt, unanticipated, with catastrophic consequences.”  He looks at how Wall Street greed and secrecy are bringing misery to Greece and endangering the European Union.  Harold writes an op-ed column for the Washington Post.

Also: The past and future of capitalism: historian JOYCE APPLEBY says capitalism isn’t an expression of human nature, but the specific result of some unlikely developments, mostly in England.  She emphasizes that capitalism is as much a cultural as an economic system.  Joyce’s new book is THE RELENTLESS REVOLUTION: A History of Capitalism.

Plus: The DANIEL ELLSBERG documentary “The Most Dangerous Man in America” has been nominated for an Academy Award! The film opens Friday at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills, and we’ll be featuring passes to the show as add-ons to our fund drive premiums.
WATCH the trailer to “The Most Dangerous Man” HERE.

Also: we remember HOWARD ZINN, who died on Jan. 27. His People’s History of the US has sold more than two million copies – and he’s been an inspiration to activists since the 1960s. We’ll play some of our interviews with Howard, and feature the DVD of his Voices of a People’s History as a fund drive premium.
WATCH Howard Zinn’s interview with Bill Moyers HERE

Plus: The Supremes’ Blow to Democracy: last week the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that it was okay for corporations to spend unlimited money to overwhelm elections.  ERWIN CHEMERINSKY will comment: he says the same 5-4 majority that said corporations must have “free speech” has drastically limited free speech for others.  Erwin is founding dean of the UCI law school.

Also: The Culture of Fear: BARRY GLASSNER explains why Americans are afraid of the wrong things: Terrorists, Criminals, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & Vaccines.  “The Culture of Fear will amaze you, make you upset, and give you a new resolve to do what’s best for this country.”—Michael Moore.  Barry teaches sociology at USC, and was featured in Bowling for Columbine.

Is it all over now?  Will Obama follow Bill Clinton’s example, and focus on doing a few things the Republicans don’t object to?  We’ll have historical perspective from ERIC FONER, political commentary from JOHN NICHOLS, and  strategic analysis from HAROLD MEYERSON.

Also: FDR provides the model of a liberal activist president against which Obama is being measured – historian ALAN BRINKLEY will talk about what FDR did—about the banks, unemployment, social security, and racial justice–and how he did it.  His new book is Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Plus: Palestinian life in Gaza – now, and in 1956, when Israelis killed 275 people in two forgotten massacres. JOE SACCO, the pioneering comics journalist, will tell that story—and explain why it matters now.  His new book is Footnotes in Gaza. He will be reading and signing next Tues., Jan. 19, 730pm, at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Av.
READ Patrick Cockburn’s review  in the New York Times HERE
SEE Joe Sacco’s drawings from Footnotes in Gaza HERE.

Now, newly released documents from the Nixon Library provide fascinating details about the debate within the White House staff two months earlier about how the president should respond.

. . . continued at TheNation.com

Los Angeles County has more uninsured people than anyplace else in the country

That would be a disaster for Los Angeles.

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Student protests against tuition increases

The central role of student protests is not just my theory; it’s the explanation offered by the governor’s own chief of staff. “Those protests on the U.C. campuses were the tipping point” for the governor, Susan Kennedy said in an interview with the New York Times.

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Plus: It’s Elvis’s 75^th birthday on Friday!  PETER GURALNICK will take up the question of Elvis and cultural theft: did the king rip off black people’s music?  Peter wrote the definitive 2-volume biography, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. (originally broadcast 8/15/07)
PLAYLIST: Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, “That’s All Right, Mama” (1946);  Elvis, “That’s All Right” (1954);  Little Junior Parker, “Mystery Train” (1953);  Elvis, “Mystery Train” (1955).

Also: GREIL MARCUS’s “secret history of the twentieth century”: it starts with the Sex Pistols and goes back to Dada and the Situationists.  The 20^th anniversary edition of his Lipstick Traces is out now.  “Today those old voices sound as touching and scary as they ever did, ” Greil writes — “partly because there is an irreducible quality in their demands–and partly because they are suspended in time.”
PLAYLIST:  Sex Pistols, “Anarchy in the UK” (1976); Elvis Costello, “Radio Radio” (1978).

“For a long time now there’s been too much secrecy in this city.”

. . . continued at LATimes.com

“They’ll send me to jail if I don’t sign up for Obama’s health care,”

Even the Republicans in the room rushed to reassure her: “You’re covered by Medicare. You’re already signed up. Nobody is going to jail.”

“Well I don’t like it one bit,” she said, still upset.

She’s an intelligent and well-informed person; where did she get this idea?

From Fox News, of course.

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Also: RICKY JAY,  master of what he calls “deceptive practices,” does amazing things with a deck of cards.  He also appeared in the David Mamet film “The Spanish Prisoner” as well as “Magnolia” and “Boogie Nights.”  He’s the author of  ”Jay’s Journal of Anomalies.”
Now he has a new live show, “A Rogue’s Gallery” — it’s running at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood through Jan. 10.
WATCH Ricky Jay’s amazing card trick on YouTube  HERE.
(originally aired 9/26/2001)

Plus: “The Dark Side” – that’s where Dick Cheney said we would have to go to “achieve our objectives” in the White House’s war on terror. JANE MAYER of The New Yorker has been investigating what “the dark side” really means.  I spoke with her before a live audience at the LA Public Library ALOUD series recently; we have the tape.  Her book is out now in paperback.
(originally aired 7/29/09)

. . . contined at TheNation.com

Plus: Obama’s year-in-review: JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation comments – and reviews the pros and cons of the health care bill, scheduled to pass the Senate Dec. 24 at 8am.

Also: KATHA POLLITT is best known for her political columns in The Nation and her personal essays in The New Yorker, but she’s also an award-winning poet – her poems are published in The New Yorker, Paris Review, The Atlantic, and many other places.  Now she has a new book of poetry out – The Mind-Body Problem. We’ll talk about poetry and politics, and she will read some of my favorites.  (originally broadcast 7/29/09)

For those of us on the left, the best argument in favor of the Afghan war is not Obama’s claim that we need to stop Al Qaeda from returning to its bases in Afghanistan. . . . The best argument is that we have an obligation to the Afghan people – especially to the feminists, secular teachers, labor organizers, health workers, democrats, all those working to build a secular, civil society. We encouraged them to help create a real alternative to religious fundamentalism. It would be wrong now to abandon them to the Taliban.
. . . continued at TheNation.com

Fans have been puzzled and troubled by Bob Dylan’s new Christmas album. To help figure out what Dylan is doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz — he’s the official historian at the official website BobDylan.com, and he also teaches American history at Princeton. He’s written many books, including “The Age of Reagan.”

Q. “Christmas in the Heart” opens with “Here Comes Santa Claus,” a Gene Autry song which, I have to say, is one of the most annoying holiday songs ever written, even before Bob Dylan sang it. “Hang your stockings, say your prayers” — is this a joke?

A. It’s not a joke at all. This is Bob Dylan looking back to his own childhood. He sings the songs that he heard as a kid in Hibbing. He’s recalling that time and those songs and that spirit.

The way Dylan sings “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” it sounds like a threat, a reason to lock your doors. . . .

. . . continued at TheNation.com.

Also: DICK CHENEY won’t go away – he keeps giving interviews attacking Obama. BART GELLMAN comments – his award-winning book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency is out now in paperback.  (originally broadcast 5/6/09)

Plus: LIES — AND TRUTH – ABOUT 9/11: JOHN FARMER says the official version of what happened that day is “almost entirely . . . untrue.” But he’s no conspiracy theorist; he says Bush and Cheney turned out to be “irrelevant” that day.  Farmer is dean of the Rutgers Law School and was senior counsel to the 9/11 commission.  His new book is THE GROUND TRUTH: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11.

That was 1999. This Sunday, Dec. 13, Zinn’s “The People Speak” – the documentary inspired by his books A People’s History and Voices of a People’s History — will be broadcast on the History channel at 8 PM/7 Central. . . .

More at TheNation.com

Also – the rise, and fall, of democracy – SUSAN GRIFFIN will comment. Her book Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen is out now in paperback.   Susan will be in conversation with Louise Steinman at the LA Public Library ALOUD series Thurs at 700pm: reservations HERE.

Plus: KPFK Sports! Soviet sports, that is: BOB EDELMAN talks about soccer under Stalin and how it provided “a small way of saying no.” Bob teaches history at UCSD; his new book is Spartak Moscow: A History of the People’s Team in the Worker’s State.
WATCH Spartak playing in 1954 on rare video HERE

And: The great ELMORE LEONARD presents his rules for writing dialogue. He’ll be honored by PEN, the writers’ organization, tonight. (originally broadcast 2-5-2003).

In 1968, Grant Park had dramatized the fratricidal split between Democrats over Vietnam. On the night of Nov. 4, 2008, Obama was suggesting all that had come to an end. The party was united and victorious.

But Obama’s speech tonight at West Point, announcing the escalation of the American war in Afghanistan, raised anew the specter of Grant Park in 1968. Once again a Democratic president is making a deeper commitment to an unwinnable war. . . .

Continued at TheNation.com